KINGS OF LEON: Because Of The Times (ALTERNATIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

We take the same and we start again... Two years after "Aha Shake Heartbreak", the Followill family presents us their new baby entitled "Because of the Times". One would have thought that the 4 boys would continue their musical road further south of the United States and continue to declaim their raw and juvenile Rock which certainly has its admirers but which, and they know it, will not allow them to exceed the borders of Dixie. Fortunately for them (and for us), this is not the case.

The opening track 'Knocked Up' proclaims it loud and clear, Kings of Leon have grown up. Already, a 7 minutes track when previously everything was said in less than 3 minutes, it is a sign. We can appreciate the atmospheric start with its melody on three notes, its development which takes its time to install a dark atmosphere without being melancholic, the snare drum hits which come like thunderclaps shaking a throbbing rhythmic based only on a bass drum and some arpeggios. One approaches here the style that the group will adopt on the following albums.

Let's pass on 'Charmer' which seems to be the last track belonging to a past now over that Kings Of Leon will propose, composition without melody and enamelled with ridiculous cries, to concentrate on the continuation. If 'On Call' is a classic rock song, 'McFearless' could have been pop if the drums hadn't decided otherwise, while 'Black Thumbnail' offers a kind of nervous rock blues that could remind us of Ayreon Jones. And we continue like that all along the album with varied titles, between pop and rock, all pleasant to listen to as long as you are able to appreciate the plaintive and rather fragile vocals of Caleb Followill always at the limit of the breaking. The album unfolds in a relative torpor, except for 'Camaro' which is a bit more lively and can remind the Lynyrd Skynyrd of the beginnings.

As a transitional album, "Because Of The Times" doesn't shine especially by its originality and doesn't contain any real defect except the absence of one or two really outstanding tracks. The result is therefore rather mixed and will not fully satisfy either the fans of the first hour or the more recent ones. But the Kings Of Leon have started to change and are not far from having found the recipe that will lead them to success. - Official website

KINGS OF LEON

BECAUSE OF THE TIMES

SONY MUSIC

ALTERNATIVE ROCK